The Autobot Traitor
by Red Tale
Summary: Transformers Animated: There's more to Bumblebee than meets the eye. The real story surrounding Optimus Prime, Prowl, Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee ending up repairing space bridges. Inspired by TFA Autoboot Camp. Sunstreaker / Sideswipe
1. Optimus Prime POV

A/N: I have not watched the episode Autoboot Camp episode yet. I conceived of this story just from the following at /boards/member.php?u41765 :

_# 25 Autoboot Camp - On the trail of an escaped Autobot traitor, Bumblebee flashes back to a previous encounter with the traitor when he first met Bulkhead in Autobot Boot Camp._

_- Interesting one will be #25 - BB on the trail of an Autobot Traitor... Wouldn't it be cool to have him be Doubledealer? _

BB Shockwave TFW2005

Yes, BB Shockwave, that would indeed be cool. This, combined with my passion for Sunstreaker/Sideswipe and the desire to see them in TF Animated, led to this story. Enjoy.

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A distant thud…

Optimus Prime did a full 180 in response, weapon ready but not drawn, as he scanned the dark area where the sound had come from. Although this assignment did not actually entail any danger, it was good practice. He congratulated himself on a perfectly executed maneuver.

A flash of yellow…

He spun back around, weapon drawn, even though…there wasn't anything here. Who would mess with a carbon mine anyway? No sane transformer would dare interfere with an energy source that supplied four major settlements. And they were all sane now…Decepticons had been wiped out before he'd even been sparked.

He cautiously looked inside the mine entrance. There was no sign of disturbance, and no sign of yellow.

He put his weapon away. Perhaps his optics were playing tricks on him, it was known to happen, especially to over-eager recruits on their first guard duty assignment trying to prove themselves to the Elite Guards even through something as simple as monitoring the off-cycle activities at a carbon mine.

But this didn't feel right. What he had originally chalked up to first-time guard duty jitters now felt more like alert autobot instincts. A more mature transformer would know the difference. He definitely saw yellow behind him, just for a nanoclick, but it was there.

Astro-seconds passed, and he began to relax.

His sensors detected a rise in heat a split second before a blast within the mine knocked him to the ground and partially covered him in disintegrated steel. Just as his head emerged from the rubble he saw…

A flash of yellow.

TBC…


	2. Prowl's POV

**One Mega-Cycle Later:**

Prowl stared impassionately at the former autobot before him. Former Autobot, and former best friend.

"Come to say Good-Bye", the yellow transformer stated, not meeting Prowl's optics but chosing instead to stare at his steel jail cell wall.

"No", Prowl answered, but volunteered no more information. His current ninja studies focused on mannerisms, in particular not talking more than necessary, especially to enemies.

After a tense breem in silence the other transformer, who lacked the discipline to complete his ninja training, sighed in frustration.

"What then? Why are you here? I'm not a slagging museum exhibit."

"The first Autobot terrorist in a thousand stellar cycles is something to behold", Prowl calmly told him, "But that's not why I'm here."

He volunteered no more information, and it clearly drove his enemy nuts.

"I'M NOT THE SLAGGIN' TERRORIST", He yelled, "IF I WAS, I WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN CAUGHT!!"

Prowl said nothing. What he thought was, _if it's not you then why don't you have an alibi?_ Not even his twin brother could account for him during that time, and those two were inseperapable, a feature which ultimately led to Sunstreaker's downfall. He'd had such promise as a ninja, but Sideswipe didn't, and Sunstreaker couldn't do the disassociation necessary to carry ninja training through and ultimately join the elite guard. Sideswipe was also the reason their friendship ended, as much as Prowl cared for Sunstreaker as his own brother, he didn't care for Sideswipe at all. Sideswipe was lazy when it came to education or work, but had boundless energy for pranks, and generally managed to draw Sunstreaker into them as well. A previous prank involving the quarters for Acadamy Recruits, in which twenty-seven of them ended up painted purple, resulted in the first use of detention facilities since the end of the war, and they'd barely been online a vorn at that point. Since that time they'd both been in and out of the Justice Halls, but at least Sunstreaker was trying to do something with his life.

"I'm not the only yellow transformer in this quadrant", Sunstreaker insisted, but quieter than his outburst, "This isn't fair. You can't even prove the attacker was yellow."

"I think they'll take an academy graduate's word over yours", Prowl replied as he unlocked the door to the cell, "Now come along quietly, don't make me inactivate you."

Now Sunstreaker turned to face Prowl.

"What? Where?"

"You're being transferred to Iacon where you'll be tried by the elite guard."

Sunstreaker looked him straight in the optics.

"You can't. They'll deactivate me. Maybe Sideswipe too."

Prowl didn't answer, only gestured. Sunstreaker reluctantly moved in the direction indicated.

"Why you?", Sunstreaker inquired, "You're not even full ninja yet."

"I asked for this assignment."

"Why?"

_'Because I wanted to say goodbye'_, he answered silently.

TBC…


	3. Ratchet's POV

** ALERT! XXXXXXXXXX ALERT! XXXXXXXXXXXXX ALERT! **

"_Be on the alert for the traitor twins __**Sideswipe**__ and __**Sunstreaker**__. __**Sunstreaker **__is believed responsible for the sabotage of a vital Carbon Mine in the __Grand Maximus__ Quadrant, leading to shortages across the area and causing the permanent deactivation of a maintenance bot inside the mine at the time. __**Sideswipe**__ ambushed a ninja guard escorting __**Sunstreaker**__ to trial, the two have escaped, are armed and dangerous, and most likely seeking ships leaving Cybertron for other ports. Use extreme caution; they will use violence against peaceful autobots. Report to the elite guard at once." _

"Slag!" Ratchet growled, unconsciously tightening his grip.

He wished the news came in a different format, something that could be crumpled up and thrown to the ground instead of an unyielding data-pad that resisted the initial squeeze of anger. Finally he slammed it to the ground, and managed to crush it under his foot, easing his rage for a few precious astro-seconds.

Then he lashed out at a nearby toolbox, flinging it across the med-bay and into the opposite wall, where it burst open and scattered instruments everywhere.

Sideswipe had such promise, so much energy and focus. They'd only been working together for about 100 cycles, but Ratchet had grown quite attached to autobot youth. He'd even filed an application to allow Sideswipe a full scholarship being mentored in the medical profession by him, an honor he bestowed very rarely.

He was aware of the contradictions. The reason Sideswipe was assigned to him in the first place was that he was the only autobot elder left who hadn't given up on the troublemaker, and the only one who truly appreciated the genius of his pranks. Where ninety nine percent of the population saw complete chaos, disrespect, laziness, and/or outright evil, Ratchet saw the potential for the greatest autobot surgeon Cybertron had ever known. Even without an active war, Autobots still got hurt, and advancements in this realm were always necessary.

Ratchets thoughts drifted to how much better it would be for Sideswipe if they were still in the war, he wouldn't be bored and frustrated, and his talents would have been realized long ago…

Ratchet mentally crossed that last thought out, rationalizing it with the anger and grief over Sideswipe.

And that slagging Sunstreaker!

For that brief Decacycle in which Sunstreaker was enrolled in Ninjitzu School, Sideswipe's ability increased ten-fold. Ratchet had no sympathy for twinship, and could not understand what compelled Sideswipe to keep seeking Sunstreaker's company at every off-cycle opportunity. And when Sunstreaker inevitably dropped out of the Ninja Training, Ratchet knew it was going to lead to trouble.

But…he had no idea Sunstreaker was capable of terrorism. Against peaceful civilian bots, during a period of no war. And now Sideswipe's been drawn into his brother's destructive path, and never to return. You don't take down a ninja escorting an autobot prisoner and get away with it.

Not unless you had a friend with a medic-pod, something that would have immunity getting past Elite Guards on the way to some nearby space bridge, where you could ultimately disappear.

"Ratchet?" the voice came exactly on cue.

Ratchet spun around, arming himself with the only tool he had available, the sonic screwdriver. He was better off simply dismantling Sideswipe with his bare digits, but he needed the semblance of a weapon in his hands.

Sideswipe raised his arms in a submissive gesture, but his optics showed only determination and courage. The yellow twin kept his distance behind him, prepared either to run or fight if the negations didn't go as planned. The sight of them turned Ratchet's oil lines cold.

"He didn't do it", Sideswipe started to explain, "And I couldn't let them-"

"Just go!" Ratchet ordered, indicating the waiting medic vehicle. He turned his back on them, so that he could honestly say he never saw them get into the vehicle, or which way they went. They could have just snuck up on him and been gone before he knew it.

Yeah…that's what happened.


	4. Bulkhead's POV

(A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Besides moving and other things, I had a hard time trying to figure out Bulkhead's POV since I have no idea what an "Energon Farm" is, exactly. After extensive research I found that there is no official description of an energon farm, so I'm just going to have to make it up and hope it works. Here it goes.)

--

Bulkhead's admission to the Autobot academy started almost from the moment he was sparked. His initial core programming consisted only of "add carbon filters to ore deposits in field #251, observe the emergence of energon rods, gather energon rods every 20 solar cycles, pack and ship to predetermined destination, repeat". He immediately set about adding his own programming "Get the slag out of here". Stranded in a desolate area, surrounded by ore-rich fields, there were no opportunities for other work. He didn't even see other transformers, he had no neighbors and no one ever stopped here, so he had no chance to talk to anyone.

It was at least a vorn before his simple Breem-wave transmitter, barely powerful enough to catch broadcasts of "As the universe revolves", saved him with an ad for joining the Autobot Army as a Space Bridge Repair Technician. A side benefit of being a Space Bridge Repair Technician is that you "Got the slag out of wherever you were", and you didn't even have to deactivate anyone to do it. By this point Bulkhead had learned to use a limited access library system available through remote downloads, and proceeded to study everything there was to know about space bridges. When he came of official age for acceptance to the autobot academy, he applied.

It had taken stellar cycles to reach this point, but at last the acceptance letter had come. A shuttle would arrive with in a deca-cycle to pick him up and take him to Autoboot camp. When the next harvest of energon rods arrived, he dutifully harvested it, packed it up and shipped it out along with his resignation letter. He had no idea who would read the letter or who would replace him, perhaps they would just throw together another sentiment being with a single operative command and keep it going for another few hundred vorn before it finally came into it's own and quit. He'd been tempted to add things to the letter about how bitter life here was, how dare they create a sentiment being and force it to live in such desolate condition as, basically, a slave. He'd even thought about adding a paragraph on revenge, then quickly deleted all that. Not becoming of an autobot cadet. Better to just compress the memory files of his early existence into one of his lesser-accessed data bases and simply start his life anew, retaining only the knowledge of Space Bridges.

After the letter, after it was all official that he was now considered a member of the Autobot army, everything over the little transistor seemed so much more real, so much closer than before. Suddenly he was concerned with the economy, and the politics, even the lingo of those he'd never even met and was now going to be sworn to protect. Listening to CNN (Cybertron News in a Nanoclick) every solar cycle became a solemn, almost religious duty that he did not fail.

And he even stacked up energon rod bales all around him, and practiced standing in the middle to simulate crowds, so he would easily assimilate from an isolated farm to the crowded city.

When the ship arrived, he confidently boarded, hiding his anxiety at being crammed into a hull deck with about fifty other transformers, pretending his enthusiasm for his first space-ship ride was just the excitement of joining the army, and covering his gasp in awe at the beauty of Cybertron seen from orbit as a cough from all the loose ore deposits in the air cilculation system.

"Geez, pal, you never intake ore dust before?", a nearby red figure remarked.

"Nope. Never had to be around ore at all", Bulkhead replied casually, not wanting to give the wrong impression. He realized from the narrowed optics of several figures that both the strange tang in his vocal processor unused to talking outloud to others, and the fact that his grimy body showed evidence of a life spent surrounded by ore pretty much betrayed him, and now he looked like a liar. His size alone already had the others resenting him in this tiny space, but it wasn't his fault that several of them had to transform just to accomadate him.

"You're so privalaged what'd you join up for?", someone asked.

"I want to be a Space Bridge Repair Technician", Bulkhead replied proudly.

This was met with resounding silence. All the listening to the transistor had not prepared him for actually corresponding with others, and since the broadcasts were never silent he had no idea how to respond now.

"Well, I signed up when I heard about that explosion in the carbon mines", someone else piped up, and this was met with cheering.

"Yeah, me too", a smaller yellow bot, probably the only able to find room enough to sit comfortably, piped up, "They need every bot they can get now, I mean, all of us got to pull together and fix everything we can."

"That carbon shortage is going to really hurt", another replied, "Bots are going to go offline left and right. I just want to find the two responsible and dismantle them slowly, in front of each other's optics. And I want it to be nice and legal", he added with a grin.

This too was met with cheers. Bulkhead was at a complete loss. He'd heard of the carbon mine explosion, and the escape of those responsible, but other than slight remorse that a service-bot had been killed, he hadn't felt moved by it at all. It hadn't really occurred to him to chase down those responsible and torture them. In fact, his persuing a Space Bridge Technician degree was to avoid chasing down and torturing anyone. He saw now that this was in fundamental opposition to the desires of the others here, and so didn't say another word for the rest of the ride.

TBC...


	5. Cliffjumper's POV

_A/N: So, originally I intended to write the last chapter from Bumblebee's point of view and then I realized that it would actually be more awesome to write it from Cliffjumper's POV. 'Huh?' You ask? Trust me, it will all make sense soon…_

**(Nanoseconds before Optimus Prime's POV)**

A flash of yellow…

In the time it took for Cliffjumper to readjust his optics, Bumblebee disappeared on the horizon. Primus, he was fast. Cliffjumper resigned himself to having underestimated his abilities, and to losing the bet. Bumblebee would have no trouble returning from _Grand Maximus Quadrant_ in under a breem, unless he got caught, but that was highly unlikely since only one guard would be posted at the carbon mine during this cycle, and that was more to give directions to lost bots than to actually guard anything. His only hope was that Bumblebee's zeal would cause him to either crash into something or that he wouldn't find a suitable object to prove he'd been inside the mines, in which case the bet was off.

He's probably grabbing something right now. A piece of unrefined carbon, perhaps, or even one of the signs saying "Autobot Carbon Mine". Yeah, that was Bumblebee's style, something big and flashy-

A distant boom…

The ground shook under Cliffjumper's feet. Then it was so quiet he wasn't even sure he'd heard anything at all. He scanned the area his audio sensors had indicated. Plumes of dark smoke billowed in the distance, in the Grand Maximus Quadrant, in the area of the carbon mine.

Thoughts of Bumblebee being incinerated over a stupid bet whose only prize was to be able to boast that he was the fastest thing on wheels flooded Cliffjumper's mind. Then it broadened to other Autobots who might have been injured, and to the devastating impact this explosion would have on the energy supplies. He'd just started to transform and rush to scene to help in whatever way he could when a yellow blur came into view, headed right for him.

Bumblebee transformed at the last second, but that didn't reduce his speed, only made him crash into Cliffjumper as a robot instead of as a vehicle. With no time to dodge, Cliffjumper had to trust his thick armor to protect him, but it had never been put to a test like this. He wasn't much bigger than Bumblebee, his whole body felt the impact as they collided together, but his extra chassis plating absorbed most of the damage and he barely felt any pain.

The same could not be said for Bumblebee, who bounced off, badly dented, staggered back and collapsed.

Cliffjumper knelt over him, regretting the one-sided damage. But at least Bumblebee was alive, not incinerated. And maybe he'll slow down a little in the future.

Neither of them spoke for several kliks. Bumblebee was too frightened and hurt, Cliffjumper just simply couldn't think of anything to say. He finally noticed a piece of metal clutched in Bumblebee's right hand. He pried it from his fingers and saw it was just a piece of unprocessed carbon from the mine.

"What caused the explosion?" he finally asked.

"I did", Bumblebee answered.

Cliffjumper examined the carbon as if it must have been responsible.

"I hit something", Bumblebee continued, "I panicked, I hit something else…and…"

Cliffjumper listened to the different sirens in the distance.

"How bad is it?" Bumblebee asked. He was still lying on the ground and couldn't even see the smoke.

"Pretty bad", Cliffjumper answered.

"I just got out of detainment", Bumblebee whined, "They're going to lock me up for life over this."

Cliffjumper felt as responsible for the damage to the mine as Bumblebee was, after all he'd goaded him into racing in there, and now he was an accomplice. A fleeting image of fellow autobots dragging them by energon chains through the cities came to mind. The elders would certainly punish them, at the least with confinement as had been done to those the infamous Sideswipe and Sunstreaker a decacycle ago. And if they were confined they couldn't make amends properly.

He stared at the carbon peice for another klik, thinking through the most rational course of action. Then he dropped it to the ground and crushed it under his foot.

"We'll make it up to Cybertron by joining the Autobot Army", Cliffjumper announced.

"I can't do that", Bumblebee argued, gaining the strength to sit up.

"There's nothing to be scared of, no one's seen any Decepticons in over a megacycle. We'll just have to do things like drive cargo ships and repair space bridges."

"No, I'm not 63 vorn yet. They won't take me."

"My proto-kin is in the Army. I think he's the rank of minor. He can approve us", Cliffjumper replied.

"You have a proto-kin?"

"We don't advertise it, especially after Sunstreaker and Sideswipe ruined everyone's perception of twins."

"I don't know…I don't think I'm army type."

"Listen Bumblebee", Cliffjumper explained, kneeling down to look the younger autobot in the optics, "Our only option now is to join the Autobot army. If we do that, we can fix everything. If we tell them the truth, and they lock us up, we won't be able to fix anything. And if we don't fix anything we're…we're no better than traitors. So we need to tell them whatever they need to here, and we need to do whatever they ask of us with out question. We need to aim for nothing less than being in the elite guard. Understand?"

Bumblebee slowly nodded, and they silently shook on it. Cliffjumper assisted him to his feet and they watched the smoke dwindle down to a wisp as the flames were put out. Cliffjumper felt relief at this, now everything was a little more under control. But the sirens seemed to grow louder and more frantic. Cliffjumper realized he was hearing battle sirens, which he only knew from history footage. Did they think they were under attack? Surely everyone must realize this was all just an accident. They wouldn't consider this deliberate sabotage…would they?

The end…

But, you ask, what about Sunstreaker and Sideswipe? Are they going to prove their innocence? Are the Autobots going to learn the truth about Bumblebee? And who is Cliffjumper's proto-kin?

That, my friends, is what sequels are for. So stay tuned for The Autobot Innocence, same bat-website, same bat-author.


End file.
